I cope and that's how I get through life
The world makes a lot more sense
when I'm standing on my head !
AP: Honorable Mention 2026
I stand in the doorway. Prepare to enter the land of the living.
I hear laughter, music...joy.
I am not ready.
I take a deep breath
gather someone’s strength.
It can’t be mine, I think.
I feel you at the back of my neck
tiny hairs tingling with your presence.
Not here.
You can’t come in.
I turn and scold grief like a child.
Grief stares back
eyes wide, Christmas gift in hand.
She softens.
Grows.
I have to come with you.
Invited or not, I am with you.
Now I’m the child.
Begging.
Please. Wait outside.
She sighs, softly rustles my hair.
I will be here. I have no choice but to accompany you.
You have no choice.
You will learn to be my friend.
Let me hold your hand.
I feel her.
Now heavy
Settling into my chest.
Her convincing weighing more and more on my breath.
I can’t imagine her weight becoming lighter.
Learning how to breathe with her there.
Everywhere.
And in me.
Another breath.
Another breath.
And another.
I hold her hand tight.
Enter the room.
We secure trust where guiless love does laugh,
That seems so caring on others bahalf...
Yet life wants us to concur
With deceit glaringly blur-
Far away programmed heuristics on graph.
As if seeping through the paper. Words;
Just seem to disappear.
Yet absent are the memories,
From only minutes, so near..
Thinking that you thought,
as you think about the memory;
A trip to the store or
something you bought.
Quickly forgotten as you stumble mid- sentence;
A place you now reside, comes to light
In bright eyes.
A place soon forgotten, to you and you alone;
While those around you deal with each forgotten
Like another painful death has falling upon.
Yet each one now marked
Unknown....
As memories fade like the scent of cologne;
Thinking that you thought
as you think about the memories
All alone...
Good Sense Of Humour Blunts The Sharp Blades Of Reality Poetry
Contest //Sponsored by: Natasha L. Scragg
Contest Judged: 8/30/2025 4:27:00 AM
( 2nd Place )
Written: August 5, 2025
When life threw me a curveball,
I stumbled—then chuckled mid-fall.
Lumped knees, not pride, I wore like bent,
because sneering is something I've seen.
In chemo rooms and vestibules,
I frenzied dry jokes on aseptic walls.
Doctors simpered, nurses would beam—
a punch-line where the fear had been.
When agony thumped hard and sleep grew thin,
I let the silly light writhe in.
A meme, a whirl , a silly song—
made aching days feel less so long.
No, humour incurable or patch,
But it's the ally, not made to part.
It doesn't silence, hurt or truth,
but let me smirk with my aching tooth.
So here's my laugh, though life gushes beneath,
it's how I rise, not how I lament!
J-abs
U-nleashed
L-et
I-ntense
E-motion
A-bate,
N-eeding
N-o
S-elf
I-nflicted
S-cars
O-f
N-ook
©bfa060125
Monocrostic (Birthday of Julie Ann N. Sison)
Swimmers don't sink
until they lose ATP -
transferred energy,
warming the waters
that will soon encase them.
You are no different -
sucking in the energy
I continuously emit.
Someday, I admit,
you will be the warm
waters I drown in
Yellow bottle caps
The pills to challenge my fear
May need pills to help me sleep
Don't like medicine
Its toxins with side effects
Thats why I take supplements
When life is cruel or unkind
I write a poem, a song, a story or such
If this does not rejuvenate me, I take a nap
Dream in my favorite pinks, oranges and yellows
My dreams are fantastical, frolicking and fun
Alliteration peppers my thoughts upon awakening
I think I will write them down, but in moments they are gone
So, I have a choice
Go back to sleep and try to rekindle that poem
Or face life
Lost in reflection
I dream
of drowning in different dimensions.
I can stare at the dark shadows
but never take my eyes from the page.
Is this how I should be
With so much beauty around?
I drift without direction
no impulsion and yet
in reflection I can be lost
and see the reflection of dark shadows
while I drown in different dimensions.
Coping Healing surviving
God bless the Crisis teams
988 for disabled Veterans and
thier disabled families feeling
hopeless right now trying not
to read terrorist threats from Gargano
on license plates balancing
such hatred upon me by the
Gargano crime family stemming
from arson murder of 8 resulting
victim nine arson murders
of nine so he's trying to kill me
God bless America
I lost the frequency long ago
At first it hadn’t seemed important
I could barely tell the difference
But once it was gone I couldn’t get it back
There was a time where that didn’t matter
Then it did
And it was too late
They tried turning the nob
Hoping the new frequency would work
But it never did
The nob would twist
Left and right
Back and forth
As they watched me like a animal
Waiting for a new reaction
I would try
Dance to the new sound
Sing the new song
It did work for a while
But the second I tired
they would turn up the volume
The seemed to think if they could drown me in the sound
I wouldn’t drown myself
Everyone’s complaining
‘Bout how it’s always raining
And we’re all getting soaked to the skin
Everybody’s whining
How there’s no silver lining
Optimism’s growing kind of thin
Everyone is moaning
You hear the constant groaning
Darn it! Can’t you see how it’s unfair?
We’ve all caught the fever
Become a true believer
Then exhale it out into the air…
Got to be a better way…
Everyone is shaking
With childish bellyaching
Looking for somewhere to place the blame
Everybody’s grumbling
Fumbling and stumbling
No one knows the rules to the game
Everyone’s protesting
But no one is suggesting
Any way to fix all that is wrong
Anybody can see
Equally we’re guilty
Of going with the flow to get along…
Got to be a better way…
A hope that I’m now clinging to…
when it comes to individuals, state or nations….
is that:
Sometimes the most difficult roads
can lead to the most beautiful destinations
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